[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4994-S4995]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ASSASSINATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it has been 4 months and 8 days since Berta 
Caceres, an internationally respected indigenous Honduran environmental 
activist, was shot and killed in her home. Ms. Caceres had led her 
Lenca community in a campaign over several years against the Agua Zarca 
hydroelectric project financed in part by a Honduran company, 
Desarrollos Energeticos, DESA, on the Gualcarque River, which the Lenca 
people consider to be sacred.
  Honduran police officers tampered with the crime scene, and they and 
some Honduran government officials sought early on to falsely depict 
the killing as a crime of passion. But that dishonest strategy failed, 
and five individuals were subsequently arrested, including a DESA 
employee and active duty and retired army officers, for which Honduran 
Attorney General Oscar Fernando Chinchilla and investigators provided 
by the U.S. Embassy deserve credit.
  It is widely believed, however, that the intellectual authors of that 
horrific crime remain at large. While the attorney general's 
investigation is continuing, as it should, I and others have repeatedly 
called on the Honduran Government to also support a thorough, 
independent, international investigation of the Caceres case under the 
auspices of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. Given 
Honduras's history of impunity for such crimes and the public's 
understandable distrust of the justice system, it is imperative that 
such an inquiry be conducted expeditiously.
  Ms. Caceres' death was one of scores of killings in the past decade 
of environmental activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and 
other social activists in Honduras. Hardly anyone has been punished for 
any of those crimes. In fact, the rate of conviction for homicide in 
Honduras is less than 5 percent.
  If that were not bad enough, just 2 weeks after Ms. Caceres's death, 
Nelson Garcia, another indigenous environmental activist, was fatally 
shot in Rio

[[Page S4995]]

Chiquito after helping dozens of residents move their belongings when 
government authorities evicted them from land they had occupied.
  And on July 6, 2016, Lesbia Janeth Urquia, also a member of the 
indigenous rights organization COPINH, Civic Council of Popular and 
Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, which Ms. Caceres led, was found 
stabbed to death. Her body was left at a municipal garbage dump in the 
town of Marcala in the western department of La Paz. It is shocking 
that her death was reportedly one of four murders in a period of 5 days 
in that town alone, which tragically illustrates the appalling extent 
of lawlessness in Honduras today.
  No one has been arrested for Ms. Urquia's assassination, and it is 
too soon to assign a motive, but there are disturbing similarities with 
the Caceres case.
  In the first place, before conducting an investigation, the police 
speculated publicly, without citing any credible evidence, that the 
crime was the result of a robbery, a family dispute, or extortion. This 
is what we have come to expect of some members of the Honduran police.
  Beyond that, Ms. Urquia had reportedly been at the forefront of a 
community struggle against a privatized hydroelectric project along the 
Chinacla River in Marcalas, La Paz. Like Agua Zarca, the Chinacla 
project has the support of top Honduran Government officials and was 
being implemented without the consent of the local communities whose 
lives will be most disrupted by it.
  Last year the Congress, with my support, provided $750 million to 
help El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras address the poverty, 
violence, injustice, and other factors that contribute to the flood of 
unaccompanied minors to the United States. On June 29, 2016, the Senate 
Appropriations Committee, again with my support, approved another $650 
million for these countries.
  A portion of these funds is for direct assistance for their central 
governments and is subject to the Secretary of State certifying that 
they have met certain conditions. In the case of Honduras, how that 
government resolves conflicts with local communities over the 
exploitation of natural resources, such as the Agua Zarca and Chinacla 
hydro projects and others like them, and its investigations of the 
killings of Berta Caceres, Nelson Garcia, Lesbia Urguia, and other 
activists will factor heavily in whether I will support the release of 
those funds.
  The government's efforts to protect civil society activists and 
journalists, who for years Honduran Government officials and law 
enforcement officers have treated as criminals and legitimate targets 
for threats and attacks, will also be a factor.
  I have followed events in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras since 
the 1980s. I have watched governments in those countries come and go. 
They have all shared a tolerance for corruption and impunity, and I 
regret to say that, despite this, they were supported by the United 
States. Top officials and their families have gotten rich, while the 
vast majority of the population is trapped in poverty and struggle to 
survive.
  During those years the United States spent billions of dollars on 
programs purportedly to raise living standards, reform the police, and 
improve governance. The results have been disappointing. While there 
are many explanations, I believe the lack of political will on the part 
of those governments and the willingness of successive U.S. 
administrations to ignore or excuse the corruption and abuses played a 
big part. We owe it to the people of those countries and to American 
taxpayers to not repeat those costly mistakes.
  Finally, it is important to note that the persecution and killings of 
environmental activists is a worldwide phenomenon, as documented by 
Global Witness in its June 2016 report ``On Dangerous Ground.'' More 
than three people were killed each week in 2015 defending their land, 
forests, and rivers against destructive industries.
  The report lists 185 killings in 16 countries--the highest annual 
death toll on record and more than double the number of journalists 
killed in the same period. In Brazil alone, 50 such activists died. 
Just last week, we learned of the assassination of Ms. Gloria Capitan, 
an environmental activist who opposed the construction and presence of 
coal stockpile facilities in Lucanin, Bataan province of the 
Philippines.
  So in this regard, Honduras is not unique, but its government is 
seeking substantial economic and security assistance from the United 
States. In order for us to justify that assistance, the Honduran 
Government needs to demonstrate that it has met the conditions in our 
law and is taking the necessary steps to bring those responsible for 
these crimes to justice.

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